Seattle is in a startup state of mind

The time for startups is now. Right now. Friday (Sept. 30) marks the
beginning of Startup Weekend Seattle, part of a worldwide series of 54-hour
entrepreneurial marathons. The day also saw an announcement from Microsoft that
its full-length feature film about entrepreneurship, Ctrl-Alt-Compete, will
be premiering at the Napa Valley Film Festival in November. Everyones gotten
into the startup state of mind.

The conversation about Seattles
startup ecosystem culminated several months ago with the announcement of the Startup
Foundation, a seven-city pilot project derived from Startup Weekend. Seattle is one of the
cities chosen for the test run, in which local advisory boards evaluate the
startup ecosystem and push for startup-conducive business initiatives.

The weekends smorgasbord of speakers, networking, workshops
and pitching isnt just for small companies. Larger players are
exerting their influence and investing in the local ecosystem. Amazon Web
Services is a sponsor. Microsofts BizSpark initiative, which gives early-stage
startups access to its software and also promotes them, has also partnered
with Startup Weekend. Privately held companies founded since 2008 that deal in
software-based products and garner less than $1 million in annual revenues can
obtain a BizSpark enrollment code by participating in the event.

BizSpark is also the team behind Microsofts film, which the
company says will be distributed more widely after its initial screening in Napa.